Lots of thoughts...

Okay, so this past weekend I went to St. George to spend some quality time with my buddy Janell. My roommates and I were southward-bound on Thursday evening after work and we met up with our dear Janelly-belly by Friday. Oh, what a terrific reunion! I miss that girl!

Anyway...we spent our time doing the girlie things, such as eating and chatting. (Living 500 miles away from our Janell means we had a lot of catching-up to do!) We also did a session at the St. George Temple, watched General Conference, and saw Les Mis at the Tuacahn Theater, which is what the bulk of this post will be about. (I'll tell you all about the fun times with Janell once I upload my pictures.)

Alright, call me uncultured or whatever, but I had never seen (or read) Les Miserables until Saturday, 4 October 2008. Still haven't read it, matter of fact. (I'm pretty sure that's going to take me a LOT longer than a couple of days to read. But don't worry, I've added it to my Bucket List, if you will...) Anyway...I'm familiar with a good portion of the music, and my roommates filled me in on the gist of the show on our drive Thursday evening. I had an idea of what Les Mis is about.

So yeah, basically it's an awesome story. But it's not even the love story between Cosette and Marius that really got me--although that is a sweet and necessary part of the story. No, I love this play because it's so deeply complex and it really made me think. And OH, how I felt for each character! I'm basically depressed for Fantine. My heart physically aches for Eponine. Javert makes me scratch my head; a lot of what he says is true--but what is justice without mercy? He's only halfway there! (Javert was played by one Jay Pierce who has a knock-out voice and although I hated his character, a part of me loved him. I think it was the voice...) I'm totally digusted with the sleaziness of Thenardier. (James Zanelli played the part so well, however!) Oh yeah, and I pretty much loved it when the college boys sang. Oh yeah...LOVED it. Marius (played by John Preator) was singing to me every time he sang. And his handsome friend Enjolras (a tall drink of water played by Kevin Goertzen) made me feel it when he led the revolt against the slimy government.

But I digress...

Anyway...my heart belongs to Jean Valjean. Seriously. I love him. Valjean was played by Timothy Warmen and he played the part so well! (It's true, I've never seen Valjean portrayed any other way, but DANG! My man Tim is awesome!) -My favorite scene of the entire 3 hour play was when Valjean sang "Bring Him Home." It brought me to tears, people.

Anyway, Les Mis makes me think. A lot. There are lots of references to God and to Christ's sacrifice to us. The Bishop, at the beginning of the play, gave Valjean a real shot at life, and it changed Valjean; he was willing to change. He becomes a great man; the potential was already there. Contrastly, when Valjean lets Javert go at the end, when he saves his life, Javert can't understand it; he is too focussed on justice and cannot seem to wrap his head around the idea of mercy. So amazing that the same act of love and kindness can be understood so differently...

LOVE is a key theme to this story. All kinds of love.

And the music is so beautiful and profound. (Okay, so "Master of the House" ain't exactly deep, but still...) Anyway, in the final scene, Valjean, Fantine and Eponine sing (in beautiful harmony, of course), "To love another person is to see the face of God." Somehow that really stayed with me.

Anyway, these are my rather scattered thoughts on the subject of Les Mis. I haven't quite decided if I love it more than Wicked...but I don't know that I have to make the choice anyway, right? They're both fantastic, and in rather different ways...